"Baby Got Back": positive image of black women?

So yeah, I'm sure many of you have seen the Burger King commercial featuring a Sponge Bob remix of the great Sir Mix-A-Lot song "Baby Got Back." Many folks were outraged that this lewd song was being used to market a kid's meal. I admit, I think it was low to use the song to try and lure children to Burger King (though I thought it was funny commercial). But there is another story to the song: "Baby Got Back" is a song that promotes black beauty.

When the original song "Baby Got Back" came out years ago it was a refreshing ode to the beauty of the black woman. The ancient Greeks and Romans admired the features of those hailing from Africa, but during the Age of Conquest Europeans changed their tune concerning black features. Black women, and men, became oddities; ridiculed for their distinct differences to Europeans. This hatred of black features followed Europeans to the New World.

For centuries there has been an European sense of what is beautiful, and anything else is considered ugly. America's definition of beauty is based on this idea, like it or not. Those of other ethnic groups, and the Caucasians, that don't live up to this standard and one-sided view of beauty are reminded everyday via television and magazines that they are "ugly" -- according to mainstream American culture.

What Sir Mix-A-Lot did with his song "Baby Got Back" is edify black women, reminding them that they are beautiful. He dares you to "ask an average black man" if he likes big butts (which mainstream American culture does not) and he'll say hell yeah! Sir Mix-A-Lot grew "tired of magazines" with their skeletal-thin, flat butt models -- a shot in the face to the European idea of beauty. He admonishes women to remain natural, because "silicon parts are made for toys"; and to remain thick, because you can "do sit ups/but please don't lose that butt." Serena Williams is a perfect example of a woman with the "Baby Got Back" body that is able to look elegant and gorgeous while showcasing all the features that make her black and beautiful.

So, listen to the lyrics of the song. Disregard Sir Mix-A-Lot dancing on a giant ass for just one moment and consider what he's really saying. Sure, the imagery is lewd, but I dare you to answer this truthfully: if you see somebody you find very attractive, do you not think, wonder, or imagine knocking boots with them? Being attracted and aroused by physical beauty is a part of human nature; but what we considered beautiful is up to each individual, not the media or dominant culture, to decide.

A. Jarrell is a novelist, poet, and freelance blogger. Visit his website at www.ajhayes.com for more of his writing.